The emerging trend of restaurants putting up “receipt walls” at their establishments in order to help feed local residents has been garnering praise across America after flourishing in Oklahoma in recent weeks.
These “receipt walls” seek to help people who have been suffering as a result of the pandemic.
How the receipt walls work is that any patron of a restaurant partaking in this scheme can purchase a meal and then place the receipt upon the wall. Then, at a later date, any diner can select one of these receipts and sit down to enjoy their meal without question or judgement.
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Several Oklahoma establishments have now implemented this idea.
The notion of paying a meal forward, for someone less fortunate than you, has been an increasingly popular way to help out those in need. And, a selection of Miami, Oklahoma’s restaurants have been emphatically promoting this scheme to try and help their local community members who have been hit hard by the pandemic as well as their two blizzards in 2021 already.
Restaurant owners and locals alike have been overwhelmed by the generosity that people have already shown in helping out, with some locals taking to social media to describe the scheme as, “Proof that kind and generous people still exist.”
One Miami restaurant even racked up over $600 worth of meals in just one day!
A former manager of one of Oklahoma’s restaurant’s, Zack’s Cafe, explained that she had been having trouble keeping the amount of receipts they’ve been receiving on the wall over the last two months.
“We have a lot of homeless people here. A lot. Within a day we had almost $600 in meals on the wall […] We’re having a hard time keeping tickets on the wall,” Ms Castellano told AP News .
People from across America have also been sending in receipts to help those less fortunate.
As news spread of the great work that was being done in helping Oklahoma locals in need get a much-needed meal, cheques began coming into some restaurants from much further afield than they may have anticipated.
Hi-Way Cafe even posted an image to their Facebook page, shown above, writing, “We received this amazing donation today in the mail from ‘Forrest’ in South Carolina. We will use the money to the best of our ability which will mean more meals on our Giving Wall! Thank you sir for your generous gift!”
The receipt wall has already helped many people, and the hope is that it will continue to do so.
Beth Hilburn, owner of the Hi-Way Cafe, was quoted as saying, “I didn’t realize how many people in need there were in my community. Especially with the way the economy is right now, this is a big deal to a lot of people,” in an interview with Insider .
With receipt walls across Oklahoma having already proved invaluable for families and veterans looking for a hot meal in these trying times, this amazing charitable outpouring has been a much-needed glimmer of light in a dark time. Hopefully this idea will continue to help those in need with more and more restaurants adopting this fantastic policy both in Oklahoma and further afield.
